He had gone to the bar to watch football after work. and at 7, I found myself surrounded by attractive women wearing name tags who are extremely friendly - unlike a typical meat market, where they're overly pretentious and unfriendly," he said. It's all about having a good time." Turning to a reporter, he added, with a smile, "I never thought this would happen tonight." Across the room, Eugene Leeung, 26, a software engineer from Berkeley, who considered himself dressed up in a T-shirt and jeans, said he liked dating older women. "It depends," said Garrett, who slipped away from the bar with someone she met so they could grab a bite of food in the dining room. Follow links to "Singles Guide to the Bay Area." The group also sponsors 150 parties a year.

"Cougars are more interesting than bimbos you can meet in bars," he said, unapologetically.

"The men their age are out of shape, bald and need Viagra.

"I'm trying to get cougars out of the closet." Garrett, a divorced entrepreneur accustomed to taking risks, had no trouble with that. I'm probably the youngest guy here." Lee said role reversal is the key.

She drove 102 miles each way, from Granite Bay, near Sacramento, to the Danville singles party, in her bid for a date. I love hearing that," she purred, flashing a mane of blond hair and a white smile. Us cougars, we hunt all over." The crowd was about 80 percent women, many of them in their 50s, and about 20 percent men, who ranged in age from their mid-20s to their 60s. "Younger women tend to not know what they want, whereas older women do," he said.

"There have always been older women at singles' parties.

We're just trying to make it socially acceptable." His first official cougars party was held last year at Park Chalet in San Francisco; a second was held in Palo Alto.

Nick Santoro, 26, a marketing coordinator for an engineering firm, was roped into attending by his friend Paul Lee, 30, a university administrator from Oakland. "It's attractive, instead of chasing someone, to be chased." There is also an appeal, he indicated, in not having to make a commitment.

Santoro just happened to be one of the first men Garrett approached. Older women don't build their worlds around younger men, he said, because they have careers, full lives and friends.

The Web site Therealcougarwoman.com, calls a cougar as "sexy, smart, independent ... over 40," while has listings for purported cougars all of 18 or 35 years old seeking men, perhaps playing with the notion of aggressive love-hunting while identifying with the cougar moniker.

Anita Blake, 55, a medical sales representative from Pleasanton who was married for 20 years and divorced four years ago, attended the party with friend Sue Sunder, 55, of San Ramon, a radio frequency coordinator for the NFL, who was married for 17 years.

He started his singles society - which has no religious affiliation - at the Unitarian Church in San Rafael in 1978.